Milling machine



April 11, 1933. T1 EAR E 1,903,444

MILLING MACHINE Filed May 8, 1928 IN VEN TOR. M

W I m ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 11,1933

' I mam mam, or nnnvnn. coro izi' o m m mag a Appi'ieation am May '8,

My invention relates to milling machines, more especially to such machines which are adapted to handle conglomerate or other substances including constituents of differ- 5 ent hardness, and the separation thereof, whereby my process may be carried out, and is an improvement over my former invention, applicationfor Letters Patent on which was filed April 20th, 1928, the serial number be- 10 ing 271,504. r r I g In my'former invention and process the material treated was subjected to a rubbing action between two relatively moving and intermittently separating rubbing surfaces and thereby thesofter material was rubbed freeof association with the harder material, the harder material temporarily sinkinginto one of the rubbing surfaces to avoid being crushed, splintered orpowdered, one of the 20 surfaces being reciprocated vertically, the other surface being reciprocated horizontally, or at an angle thereto.

That is, the rubbing surface upon which the material is supported is reciprocated, as

is also the rubbing surface co-acting therewith. i

In some materials, under some conditions, the reciprocation of the material being treated may produce resultsnot desired; and in large units, the reciprocation of the lower rubbing surfacewith all the material it may hold tends toward an unwieldy and costly ma chine.

The object of my present invention is to provide a machine for treating and separating such conglomerate substances as mentioned above, in which the constituents of the substance are disassociated by being rubbed intermittently between a stationary rubbing surface and a movable rubbing surface, and subsequently separated.

My present invention consists in a machine for intermittently rubbing the material along a stationary rubbing surface by .a movable rubbing surface of either equal or unequal hardness, the movable surface intermittently raising from the stationary surface, the intermittent action thereby produced acting to rub the softer material fromassociation with the harder material of the substance the crush 51928;] serial No. 276,015.

ing, splintering, or powderingof the hardermaterial beingprevented either by Well regua lated pressure between the surfaces or by the harder material temporarily sinking; into one or the other or'both of the rubbing surfaces depending on details selected for each case; the intermittent action providing; a cooling effect on the material and the surfaces, "and also assisting in the disassociation of the con? stituents' of the conglomerate l'substances treated, and the stationary rubbing surface supporting the material-providing'a stationary-period for the material which permits the same to-settle-and comeito rest between the contacts of the movable rubbing surfaces, The constituents of the" conglomeratesubstance are next separated, which separation is a part of my process, though it may be per,- formed in some caseshydraulically, at the time of the disassociation of the constituents, in which case the rest period of the material provided in this inventionbetween the con tacts of the movable surfaces is of consider able advantage under some conditions and with some materials. w i

Or, the separation may be made bythe dry method, when it is performed subsequently to the disassociation stage e-xcept in V the case ofsome special-substances as noted below. If performed subsequent to thedisassoc'iation stage, the separationmaybe -madeby any of the air and gravity methods, orhydraulically, ionically, chemically, electrically, magnetically, electrostatically, or in any otherwellknown or pro-permanner.

But,1since the various devices and methods by which the constituents may be separated after their dry disassociation-are no part of this invention, they are not shown nor'furthen described in detail herein.

The construction of' the device whereby the above process may be put into operation-is shown in the drawing, in-which Figure 1 is a side elevation in-partial section of the preferred form iof'mydevioe;

adapted for dry operation. l Figure 2- is a fragmentary section show-j ing themac'hine adapted for wet operation;

Figure 3 is a plan view of Figure-2,4but 39 also showing a plan view of the feed bin and grizzly plate shown in Figure 1.

In the form shown in Figure 1, the frame 1 supports the stationary rubbing surface 2, which forms the bottom of the tank having walls 3, tied together atthe lower end by the cross piece 3. 7

The upper portion of the bottom 2 is shown composed of rubber or similar material, while the lower portion is composed of metal, which will be explained more in detail below. Upon the tank and frame is properly mounted and journaled the drive shaft4', upon which is mounted the driving and free pulleys 5 and 6, respectively, and thedriving gear 7-. The camshaft 8 is also properly mounted and journaled on the tank and frame. 1 v

.Upo'nlthe' cam shafts. is securely mountedthe. camshaft gear 9, the crank pin Y10 and the cam 11. r V

1 .Thus, the rotation of the driving pulley 5, which is driven by a belt, rotates the cam shaft 8,"the speedand torque beingchanged byflthe relative sizes of the gears 7 and 9.

The cam roller 12,- mounted by the pin 13 on:thezcam lever 14, rolls upon the'cam 11 and thereby oscillates the cam lever 14 about its mounting pin 15. Upon the vertical arm 16' of the cam lever- 14 is pivotally mounted the adjustable connecting rod 18 by the pin 17. The rod 18is pivotally connected by the pin 20 to the'vertical arm of the bellcrank 19, whichis pivotally mounted on the pin 21.

The pin 21 is securedin the short bifurcated arms of the bellcrank 22, which is pivotally mounted on the pin 23.

The pin 23 is securely mounted on the standard". 24 which is carried by the tank and the frame 1. r

The long arm of the bellcrank 22 is attached to oneend of the cable 25, the other end of which attached to the drum 26, which is mounted to rotate with the worm gear 27, adjacent the shaft 4. The worm-28 is mounted to mesh withthe worm gear 27 and to be. revolved by the handle 29.1 H

.Thus the handle 29 may be used to revolve the drum 26' and-wind the cable there on, which will raise the short arms of the bellc'rank22 and thus raise the bellcrank 19,

for purposes which will be explained later.

The slotted construction ofvthe brackets 32 permits vertical self adjustment of the upper end of the muller frame 30 as will be taken up more fully lateron. r

The brackets 31 are pivotally mounted by the pin 35 upon the slotted hanger 36, which is pivotally mounted by the pin 37 upon the horizontal arm'of the bellcrank 22.

The slotted construction of the hanger 36 permits vertical self adjustment of the lower end of the muller frame 30 as. will be more fully explained later on. y o

It will now be seen that the mechanism controlled by the worm handle 26 may be used to vary the-height of the lower end of the muller frame 30. V

Attachedto the muller frame 30 are the I brackets 40: upon which the connecting rod 41 is pivotally mounte'd by the pin 42.

"As the camshaft .8 revolves, the action of the cam roller 11, roller 12, roller lever 14,

. arms 16 and 34, connecting rod-18, bellcranks 19 and 22 and hangers 36and 33, will raise and lower the mu1ler frame30 once every revolution. 7

And as the crank pin 10 revolves with the shaft 8 the action of the connecting rod 41 and pin 42 will reciprocate the muller frame- 30 once every revolution.

The mullers 43 are suspended from the muller plate spindles 44. V 1 V The spindles 44 are screwed into themullers 43 and locked in place by the lock wire 45, see Figure3. V r The upper ends of 'the spindles 44 are flanged and arealso provided with the holes 46 for use in adjusting the height of the spindles in the mullers 43, and for locking the spindles in place by use of the lock wire 45. V

The cushion cup 47 may be'of one piece construction or built up as shown, and is attached to the muller frame 30 bythebolts'48 and nuts49; The bottom of'the cup is provided with large apertures through which pass the spindles 44. The muller cushion 50 preferably of live rubber fits in :the cushion cup 47 and surrounds the muller spindle,44.

madeof any. other properfmaterial or construction, such as a steel spring, a pneumaticcushion, or other equivalent, so long as the final result will be the proper cushioning of the impactbetween the muller frame 30 and the mullers 43 when the rise of the frame lifts the mullers from the stationary surface 2. To the lower face of each-muller43 is attached the muller plate51, preferably of rubber, though it may be made of any' other proper material, or even integral with the muller 43, and its hardness may be either different from, close .to, or identical withthat of the stationary rubbing surface 2, depending' upon the material, the requirements, and other conditions. I

,Thectank bottom, or loWeIf,.or stationary rubbing surface 2, may also be of any suitable material and its hardness may be different from, close to, or identical with that of the muller plates 51; But, though the tank bottom 2 and the muller plates 51 may be varied in material as stated, I believe in the major-' ity of cases'the bottom will be made of steel or other metal, rubber, or wood, and the muller plates will be made of rubber, wood, metalor other suitable material.

'With some material under some conditions,'-

it has been found that both rubbing surfaces maybeof the same'hardness provided" they ing, splintering and powdering of the material being controlled by regulation of the pressure between the surfaces. But, for the majority of cases, and for m trouble-proof operation when in the hands of careless, ignorant, or incompetent operators, the surfaces of unequal hardnessior surfaces at least slightly compressible will be found to be most satisfactory. 7

As shown in Figure 1 the upper end of the 5 machine is provided with surfaces of equal hardness and compressible, while the lower end of the machine is provided with surfaces of unequal hardness, one being compressible;

This combination, while it may give good as results with some materials, requirements,

and conditions, may not other cases. i v V But the combination is shown to give an v indication of the flexibility of my'process and machine in being adapted to give the results desired.

As shown, the muller plates 51. are attached by aplural dovetail construction-to the mullers 43, but any other suitable meansof attachment may be employed provided it gives the same reliable result. I V

The spindles 44 are positioned slightly forward of the center of gravity of the mullers 43, so that when they are'lifted from the bottom 2, the lower end of the muller will tend to hang slightly lower than the upper end thereof, and thus be substantially parallel with the slopefof the bottom 2; But, the hang of the mullers and the pressure between the surfaces may be varied as desired by the addition of weights such as shown at 52,-which are attached to the mullers by the bolts 63,=or may be attached in any other proper manner.

The position of the mullers on the muller frame may beohanged by loosening the nuts 49 and sliding the cups 47'to the desired position.

And the hang of the mullers. and their weights can be made as desired by the'proper position, number and size of weightssuch as shown at 52.. g

In operation the material is'fed to the machine from the feed bin 541'inderth'e ad be satisfactory in rests upon the grizzly plate 56 which curedto the muller frame 30.

When the pulley 5 rotates in the direction of the arrow A the muller plates 51 will rest upon the stationary rubbing surface 2511s shown in Figure 1, while the down stroke is taking 'place, the material from the "bin 54 meantime feeding through the slots of the grizzly plate 56 and upon the surface 2" At the end of the down stroke the action of the cam 11 will raise the muller frame30 The feed flap 55, attached a the trust s se'-:

andthegrizzly plate 56, raising the feed "flap 55 and shutting off the feed from the bin 54 on the return or up stroke of the muller frame30. V

' Any other feed construction may be used if desired quired.

' When the cam .11 raises the muller frame 30 at the end of the down stroke, the cushions 50 come into contact with the flanges of the spindles 44 and cushion the impact asthe mullers are raised from the surface 2.

' At the end, of the upstroke of the muller frame 30 the cam 11 lowers it again allowing the weight of the mullers once more to rest upon the material being treated on the stationary rubbing surface 2;

The path of the movement thus produced is illustrated by the arrows indicated at C, Figure 1.

Should any extra large'hard pieces, or a sledge hammer or other article in any manner find its way to the surface 2, the vertical self adjustment permitted by the brackets 32 and the hanger 33 will prevent damage to the upper end of the machine. And the vertical self adjustment permitted by the brackets 31 and the hanger 36 will prevent damage to the lower end of the machine.

The adjustments permitted by the worm handle 29 and the spindles 44- will allow the machine and the individual mullers to be set to meet the requirements of any material or condition of operation. I

The intermittent rubbingv action of. .th

mullers down the slope of the rubbing bottom 2 works the material fed from the bin 54 down to the lower discharge end 58 of the machine.

provided itigives the results reits tion shown in my, former. invention mentioned above may be employed if desired.

In any case the mullers should have a'uni ver'sal mounting so they may tilt as may. be

required by the material being treated, and

they must have independent, vertical. self adjustment. V i

1 The mechanism shown forthe reciprocation and elevation ofithe mullers may also be varied as desired, so long as the result is substantially one stroke with the mullers resting upon the surface 2 and followed bysubstantially one stroke with the lifted from the surfa'c'eQ.

I In'place of the cam and mullers tion may be usedso long as the desired result vis obtained. In'fact the liftingconstruction shown in my former patent may be employed ifdesired thelower endof the telescopic lifting rod being mounted on the crank pin 10 which operates the connecting rod 41, the upper end being 'pivotally mounted to actuate the bellcrank arms 16 and 34h In any case theresult should be that the mullers are lifted for substantially one stroke od, and it may be used upon material already treated by the dry method, or upon the material discharged from the upper end of a machine operating by the wet method described hereinafter. In fact the dry, moist and wet methods may becused in any sequence and combination that will produce the best results for any given case.

In Figure 2 are shown the variations in the machine when used wet with the separation stage of any portion of the material directly following the disassociation of its con stituents.

, The reciprocating and elevating mechanism shown in Figure 'l, or any other mechanism, givingsubstantially the same operation may be used, except, as illustrated by the construction in Figure 1, therotation of the pulley 5 will be in the direction shown by the dotted arrow B, e V

This will produce a'path of action for the mullers illustrated by the arrows D in Fig ure 2. e e

. That is, when the muller frame 30 is moved on the out stroke, down the incline of the surface 2, the mullers 43 will be lifted; and when the muller frame 30 is moved on the instroke. up the incline of the surface 2, the mullers will be resting thereon.

-When used wet, the tank is provided with roller construction. shown in F igure 1 any other proper construe a lower end plate 59, held to the sides and for liquid with whichoverflows the finer;

and softer constituents of the material'being treated. A,

The action of the-mullers working under tling. of .the material between the rubbing strokes of the mullers, tends to make, not only a clean disassociation of the constituents of. thematerlal, but also, a clean separation of them'as well. When more than one constituentof the material overflows from the tank, further separation thereof may be made by anyof the well known methods; that is, when such constituents "are of different specific gravity,

have different-settling rates, or different solubilit such differences may be used to make the urther separations desired.

But, thoughthe separation of the constituents of the material treated is a part of my process, it is not limited to the use of any parsuch methods will not be described herein in detail. 1

, The drain cook 63 is provided in the'floor;

of the tank for use in draining same when the machine is used'wet. i

'75 water, together with the rest periods for settioular separation-method; for this reason 7 The feedjin the wet method comes through the launder 64 to the distributor 65', and for this reason the bin 54 and the grizzly plate 56 are not required, though they are indicated in the plan view shown in Figure 3.

It will benoted that the grizzly plate 56 is not shown inFigure2.

The uppermost mullers 66; are provided with transverse ribs 67 which act as rakesand move theharder material up the slope of the surface 2 above the water level and to the discharge lip 68. r v i 7 Where desired, however, the uppermost mullers may be similar in'constru'ction to the other mullers ;or the uppermost mullers may be provided with rubbing surfaces similar to the plates 51 for a portion of their extent and with rakes similar to the rakes 67 for other portions of their extent. Therakeconstruction and the muller construction, and thejpro portion of one to the other being dictated by the case being considered at the time, experiment may be used to determine exactly what construction is best. e

In Figure 2 it will be seen that the upper portion of the machine is provided with non-' compressible rubbing surfaces of equal hardness, while the lower portion of the machine is provided with compressible rubbing sur faces of equal hardness. This combination of surfaces, which is different from the combination shown in Figure 1 gives further evidence of the adaptability of my process and machine. V

The same machine used in the wet process may be used in the dry method by a few sim-v ple changes as follows ;the lower end plate 59 is replaced by the cross piece 3'; the launder 64 and the distributor 65 are exchanged for the feed bin 54:, feed flap 55, feed gate 57 and grizzly plate 56; and the uppermost rake mullers 66 are exchanged for rubbing mullers 43. The direction of operation of the mullers is changed from that indicated by the arrows D in Figure 2, to that indicated by the arrows C in Figure 1, this change bemg accomplished by merely reversing the direction of rotation of the pulley 5 from that 1ndicated by the arrow B to that indicated by the arrow A.

In either the wet, the moist or the dry method the disassociation takes place through the intermittent rubbing action of the reciprocating and elevating mullers upon the material resting upon the stationary rubblng surface 2. V

Because of the rest period between the rubbing strokes of the mullers the materlal supported on the surface 2 1n the dry method will remain as it is left by the last contact of the mullers. 'With some materials and under some conditions this will give the results required to a greater extent than the dry method of my former invention where the lower rubbing surface performed substantially one stroke of itsreciprocatlon dur ng the period between mullercontacts, durlng which stroke the particles of the materlal on the lower rubbing surface will tend to readjust their positions.

It would be difficult to state 1n advance which process and which machine and WlllCh rubbing surfaces and combinatlon thereof would be best suited to any given substance or set of conditions and requirements; but between them all they furnish such a wide range of action that experiments can be depended upon to determine just what 1s best for any given case.

This may be especially. true with such substances in which after disassociation of the constituents, one or more of them form into a cohesive mass in effect combining the disassociation and the separation stages as closely as they are combined with other sub- There are however, ,certain advantages or points of difference,in the dry or-the moist or So,-I do, not claim ,thatany ,method. of

either process or any machine is? aCUre-all that will properly meet'every; case,but I do believe my presenttpr'ocess andmachine to be .a i great improvement over ;-my former process: and machine under some conditions andrequirements and with somesubstances, V and that they offerincreased adaptability for the solution of a milling probleIIl-v v I I am aware-ofmany changes aand variations that anycompetentmechanic ,versed' in. such matters and inmyltwo inventions would perceive,soI do not-wishto limitjmy protection narrowl to the, exact disclosures of the abovespeci cations andvthe drawing,

but what I claim 'a's new and desireito protect by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1.; In a device-for thefdisassociation of the V separable constituents of :a substance, including astationary surface, amovable Surface "adapted to be reciprocatedup'on an outwardcushion means after; a predetermined upward movement of the frame fromits limit of travel. f all a 1' 921* In, a device for the disassociationofthe V separable constituents of a substance, including support means, power; means, two co-acting rubbing surfaces, and means driven "by "the powermeans and adapted to'provide, rel- @5105 v ative ,longitudinal vmovement between and intermittent separation of said surfaces including lifting means driven by the power means and adapted to, have a substantially vertical reciprocating movement, cushio nzllo 'means' carried by the lifting .means, and

means carried by one of the said surfaces. and adapted to be engaged byasaid cushion means after a predetermined upwardjmovement of the lifting means from its lower limit; of 1115 a travel. n a v 3. In a devicefor the' disassociation of the separable constituentsofa substancc,"incjluding-support means, power means, a; stationary, rubbing surface, a mova'ble rubbing sur- 2120 face adapted to be'reciprocated upon an out ward and a return stroke and to rest uponthe stationary surface during substantially one of said strokes, a frame, means driven by the power means and connected-to thelframe tor- V sreclprocatesame'upon an outward and areturn stroke,1means driven byrthe power means and connected to the frame to provide-usabstantially vertical reciprocation of the frame aridtoliftthe frameduring substantially:

'onegof said strokes,"cushionmeansmounted on the frame, and means carried by-the movablesurface'and adapted to be'engaged by i m "the said cushion means after a predetermined 'u'pward -movementjof the frame from its lower limit of travel. r p

' 4. "In' a device for the'disassociation of-the separable constituents of a substance, includ- I ing support means, po-wermeans,a stationi ary surface, a movable surface adapted'to bereciprOc'ated upon an; outward and a return-stroke andto rest upon the stationary surface during substantially one of said strokes, lifting means, means driven by the power means and'connectedto the lifting means to reciprocate same upon an outward f and a 'return stroke, means driven by" the power meansand connected to the lifting means to provide substantially vertical recip- V V rocation thereof and to lift said lifting means during-substantially oneof said strokes, cushion means mounted on'saidliftingmeans, and-mean' /carriedby the-movable surface Y *anda'dapted'to be en'gaged by the said cush- 5 ion means after a" predetermined upward movement of the lifting means from its lower limit of travel. I 1

5 In adevice for the disassociation of the separable constituents of a substance, ineluding support means, power means, two 7 coo-acting rubbing surfaees, and means driven 'byfthe power'meansand adapted to provide relative longitudinal-movement between and f intermittent separation of said surfaces ing eluding lifting means driven by the power means and adaptedto have asubstantially vertical reciprocating movement, and a connection, universally resilient, between said N lifting means and one ofsaid surfaces adapt- :t210ed'to liftsaidsurfa'ceafterapredetermined ff "i' V upward movement ofthe lifting means from "its lower limit-of travel. v p

' 6. In a device for the disas'sociation of Ithe separable constituents of a substance, in

, 73745 eluding support means, power means, a stationary surface, amovable surface adapted to be reciprocated upon an outward and a return stroke and to rest upon the stationary surface during substantially one of said strokes, lifting means, means driven by the power means and connected to the lifting means to reciprocate same upon an outward and a return stroke, means driven by the power means and connected to the lifting 555 mean's'to provide -s'ubstan'tiallyvertical reciprocation thereof and to lift said'lifting "means during substantially one of said strokes,- and a connection, universally resilient, between said lifting means and the mov- 7 V able surface and adapted toiliftsaidsurface "after apredetermined upward movement of {the-lifting f means from its lower'limit of travel."; 5 i In testimonywhereof I afiix mysignature. a g THEODORE EARLE. 

